Black market prostitution is often marked by murder, assault, abuse, drug addiction and disease. The worst of it corrals children into the trade to slake the awful lusts of the lowest-status members of society. Above-board prostitution is less unsavory, but it still may be non-euvoluntary. Even in the presence of decent regulatory institutions, the probability of ex post regret may still exist for both providers and clients. Externalities might be imposed on cuckolded spouses and knowledge that whorehouses operate legitimately in plain view is patently offensive to many.
Both states of the world are non-euvoluntary, so why select the one more likely to be tarnished by violent crime?
This whole ex-post regret condition has me flummoxed. For a jug of milk, it makes sense. It isn't a euvoluntary exchange if I get home and realize you've dissolved talcum powder in water, or if the milk has gone bad (and you knew about it when you sold it).
ReplyDeleteBut "buyer's remorse" doesn't count, in my book. If my conscience is killing me because I slept with a hooker, that's not ex-post regret. It isn't even ex-post regret if I find out I've contracted a disease.
I might have ex-post regret if, instead of rendering the paid service, you strap me to a bed and steal my wallet. That condition, as well as some aspects of BATNA, have subtleties we haven't ironed out yet.